Umbrella-type laundry drying rack

ABSTRACT

An umbrella-type laundry drying rack is provided which has a vertical support and load-bearing arms for clothes lines. The load-bearing arms are disposed pivotably on the support about respective pivot pins, and are pivotable between a first position close to the support and a second position remote from the support. The load-bearing arms are coupled to one another such that upon pivoting of one of the load-bearing arms, the remaining load-bearing arms are jointly pivoted in the same way. At least one of the load-bearing arms has a deflection mechanism for deflecting the at least one load-bearing arm outward from the first position upon exertion of a force oriented away from the support to another one of the load-bearing arms.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to an umbrella-type laundry drying rackhaving a vertical support and having load-bearing arms for clotheslines, the load-bearing arms being disposed pivotably on the supporteach about a respective pivot pin, and the load-bearing arms arepivotable between a first position close to the support and a secondposition remote from the support and are coupled to one another suchthat upon pivoting of one of the load-bearing arms, the furtherload-bearing arms are jointly pivoted in the same way.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In general, to enable them to hold large amounts of laundry,laundry drying racks in their operational state are not inconsiderablein size. It has therefore already been provided that they can be storedin a space-saving way by being collapsed. This means that before eachuse of the laundry drying rack, its load-bearing arms have to be foldedout. Deploying the laundry drying rack requires the exertion ofcomparatively great force in the initial phase, until the load-bearingarms have moved past a certain angular position relative to the verticalsupport. To improve this unsatisfactory situation, the attempt hasalready been made to use a pull cord guided like a corkscrew for a winebottle. But even such a device cannot make it easier to deploy thelaundry drying rack until the load-bearing arms have been pivoted out oftheir vertical position of repose by a significant angular amount; thathas to be done by hand.

[0003] To make it easier to pivot the load-bearing arms outward, it hasalready been proposed that a spreader body be mounted longitudinallydisplaceably on the vertical support of an umbrella-type laundry dryingrack; the spreader body cooperates with support elements mounted onspreader arms, and upon longitudinal displacement, it pivots thespreader arms and with them the load-bearing arms for the clothes linesout of their folded-up position of repose. Such an apparatus can indeedfacilitate deploying the laundry drying rack but entails majorstructural effort and expense.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is therefore the object of the invention to create a laundrydrying rack of the type defined at the outset that assures simpledeployment with high functional safety and reliability and that issimple to produce.

[0005] According to the invention, this object is attained in that, inan umbrella-type laundry drying rack of the type defined at the outset,at least one load-bearing arm has a means for its forced deflection outof the first position outward, upon exertion of a force oriented awayfrom the support to one of the other load-bearing arms. Because it iseasy to exert the force for deploying the laundry drying rackimmediately onto a load-bearing arm, complicated transfer elements forthis force are unnecessary. Only on at least one of the furtherload-bearing arms is a means for its forced deflection provided. Whenthe laundry drying rack is deployed, immediately after the forceddeflection of the first load-bearing arm the further load-bearing armsare pivoted out of their position of repose as well, because of thecoupling of the load-bearing arms to one another. A laundry drying rackof the invention has an especially small number of components and is notonly simple and economical to produce but also extraordinarily safe andreliable in operation and invulnerable to wear. It is true that aplurality of load-bearing arms or even each load-bearing arm may beprovided with a means for forced deflection out of the first position,that is, the position of repose, but experiments have shown that it isentirely adequate for such a means to be provided on only one of theload-bearing arms.

[0006] In an advantageous refinement of the invention, the load-bearingarm having the means for its forced deflection is disposed, relative tothe support, opposite a load-bearing arm provided for exerting the forceoriented away from the support; as a result, only a very slight exertionof force suffices to deploy the laundry drying rack.

[0007] Adequately high stability of the laundry drying rack isadvantageously attained if the load-bearing arms are each braced on thesupport with a respective spreader arm that is pivotable on the one handabout a retaining shaft disposed on the support and on the other aboutan articulation shaft disposed on the load-bearing arm. In anadvantageous refinement of the invention, the laundry drying rackbecomes simple to use and at the same time has high stability becausethe retaining shafts of the spreader arms are disposed fixedly on thesupport.

[0008] To assure simple, operationally safe and reliable deployment ofthe laundry drying rack, the pivot pins of the load-bearing arms areadvantageously disposed on a sleeve that is displaceable relative to thesupport. Such an embodiment furthermore allows adjusting the height ofthe laundry drying rack. This means that the load-bearing arms for theclothes lines, in the deployed state of the laundry drying rack, can befixed at different heights, making it easy to hang articles of laundryon the clothes lines, regardless of how tall the person performing thisactivity is.

[0009] The laundry drying rack can have a large number of load-bearingarms. However, a great usable length of clothes line with simultaneouslyhigh stability and low weight of the laundry drying rack areadvantageously obtained if—as experiments have shown—four load-bearingarms are provided.

[0010] In an advantageous refinement of the invention, one load-bearingarm has a handle, and this load-bearing arm is intended for exerting theforce oriented away from the support. As a result, the introduction offorce into the load-bearing arm is improved, without requiringcomplicated additional devices for operating it. It is conceivable forthe handle on the load-bearing arm to be made adjustable, so that auser-specific setting can be made.

[0011] For the mean for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm,various embodiments are conceivable. It is advantageously possible toachieve virtually no operating wear of the laundry drying rack if, in afurther refinement of the invention, the means for forced deflection ofthe load-bearing arm has a tilt lever that on the one hand can bepivoted about a tilt pin on the load-bearing arm and on the other can bebraced on the support. Such an embodiment moreover means especially easyproduction of the laundry drying rack. The laundry drying rack can beopened especially easily and with only little exertion of force if thetilt lever carries the articulation shaft of the corresponding spreaderarm, and the articulation shaft of the spreader arm is disposed betweenthe tilt pin of the tilt lever and an end of the tilt lever that can bebraced on the support.

[0012] Another advantageous, very precise means for forced deflection ofthe load-bearing arm has a toothed sleeve, which is displaceablerelative to the support, and a gear wheel or gear wheel segment thatengages the toothed sleeve and is disposed on the load-bearing arm.Advantageously, a very compact, space-saving structure can be achievedif the toothed sleeve is disposed displaceably in the sleeve, on whichthe pivot pins of the load-bearing arms are disposed and which isdisplaceable relative to the support. The number of components can bereduced further if advantageously the toothed sleeve is drivable by agear wheel or gear wheel segment disposed on a load-bearing arm intendedfor exerting the force oriented away from the support.

[0013] In another advantageous refinement of the invention, the meansfor forced deflection of the load-bearing arm has a connecting roddisposed on the one hand pivotably on a connecting rod sleeve that isdisplaceable relative to the support and on the other pivotably on theload-bearing arm. In this way, an especially low-wear design that issecure against jamming is achieved. The laundry drying rack isadvantageously constructed especially simply and is operationally safeif, in an advantageous refinement of the invention, the connecting rodsleeve is drivable by a connecting rod that is connected to aload-bearing arm intended for exerting the force oriented away from thesupport.

DRAWING

[0014] The invention will be described in further detail below in termsof exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. Shown are

[0015]FIG. 1A, a side view of an approximately halfway open laundrydrying rack with a tilt lever;

[0016]FIG. 1B, the laundry drying rack of FIG. 1A in the fully openstate;

[0017]FIG. 2, a detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A, 1B, withone load-bearing arm in a folded-up position near the support;

[0018]FIG. 3, an enlarged detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A,1B, with one load-bearing arm in an outward-deflected position;

[0019]FIG. 4, a detail of a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A, 1B, withone load-bearing arm in a fully outward-pivoted position;

[0020]FIG. 5, a detail of a laundry drying rack with a gear wheelsegment and a toothed sleeve; and

[0021]FIG. 6, a detail of a laundry drying rack with a connecting rodand a connecting rod sleeve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022]FIG. 1A—which like all the other figures is schematic—shows anumbrella-type laundry drying rack with a vertical support 1, on whichload-bearing arms 2 for clothes lines, not otherwise shown, aredisposed. The laundry drying rack has four load-bearing arms 2 disposedsymmetrically to the center axis 4 of the vertical support 1; for thesake of simplicity, only the right and left load-bearing arms 2 havebeen shown here, while in this view the front and rear load-bearing armshave conversely been omitted. The load-bearing arms 2 are located in adeflected-outward position in which they have been unfolded from thevertical support 1. The load-bearing arms 2 are disposed pivotably,about pivot pins 6, on a sleeve 8 that is displaceable relative to thesupport 1. For reasons of stability, the load-bearing arms 2 are alsoeach braced on the support 1 by a respective spreader arm 10. Eachspreader arm 10 is pivotable on the one hand about a retaining shaft 12disposed on the support 1 and on the other about an articulation shaft14 disposed on the load-bearing arm 2. The articulation shaft 14 on theleft load-bearing arm 2 is not disposed directly on the load-bearing arm2 but rather on a tilt lever 16, which is pivotable on the load-bearingarm 2 about a tilt pin 18.

[0023] The laundry drying rack of FIG. 1A is shown in FIG. 1B in thefully open state. The load-bearing arms 2 are now in the fullyoutward-pivoted position relative to the vertical support 1, and theclothes lines—not shown here—extend taut, and with vertical spacing fromone another, in the horizontal direction between the load-bearing arms2. In FIGS. 1A, 1B and all the other figures, identical or equivalentcomponents are identified by the same reference numerals. It can be seenthat in the open state of the laundry drying rack, the tilt lever 16rests on the corresponding spreader arm 10.

[0024]FIG. 2 shows the left load-bearing arm 2 of the laundry dryingrack of FIGS. 1A, 1B in a first position, close to the support, where itis folded up against the vertical support 1. It can be seen that theload-bearing arm 2 has a tilt lever holder 20 with a tilt pin 18 of thetilt lever 16. In the folded-up position shown here, the tilt lever 16rests on the one hand with a lug 22 on the vertical support 1 and on theother, it rests lengthwise on a spreader arm 10; the spreader arm 10 isjoined to the tilt lever 16 via an articulation shaft 14.

[0025] With reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 2, the unfolding or deploymentof the laundry drying rack proceeds as follows: One load-bearing arm,which in terms of a vertical support 1 is opposite or in other wordsfaces a load-bearing arm 2 having a tilt lever 16, is pulled away fromthe support 1, for instance by means of a handle, and the laundry dryingrack is thus pulled open. As a result, the sleeve 8, to which all theload-bearing arms are secured, is pulled upward along the support 1; asa result, the tilt lever 16, by means of the load-bearing arm 2connected to it and by means of a lug 22 of the tilt lever 16 that restson the support 1, forces the load-bearing arm 2 outward. In a firstintermediate position, which is emphasized in FIG. 1A by means of adetail III (shown enlarged in FIG. 3), the tilt lever 16 is locatedapproximately horizontally between the load-bearing arm 2 and thevertical support 1. The spreader arm 10 is in a half-open intermediateposition.

[0026] As the laundry drying rack is pulled farther open, theload-bearing arms 2 reach the operating position shown in FIG. 1B. Init, the tilt lever 16 (as in its outset position shown in FIG. 2) isagain placed against the spreader arm 10 (see detail IV in FIG. 1B,shown enlarged in FIG. 4).

[0027] An important factor in the laundry drying racks shown in FIGS.1A, 1B through 4 and in the other laundry drying racks shown in FIGS. 5and 6 and described hereinafter, is that the laundry drying rack in eachcase can be opened by simply pulling one load-bearing arm 2 away from avertical support 1.

[0028] A detail of another embodiment of an umbrella-type laundry dryingrack is shown in FIG. 5. In this laundry drying rack as well, a verticalsupport 1 is provided with four load-bearing arms 2, of which only twoare shown here for the sake of simplicity. The load-bearing arms 2 aresupported pivotably, by means of pivot pins 32, on a sleeve 30 that isdisplaceable relative to the support 1. On their lower end, theload-bearing arms 2 each have one gear wheel segment 34, which isdisposed centrally to the pivot pin 32 of the respective load-bearingarm 2 and which engages a toothed sleeve 36 that is displaceablerelative to the support 1. As in a laundry drying rack of FIGS. 1A and1B through 4, the laundry drying rack of FIG. 5 also has spreader armson its load-bearing arms 2; the spreader arms are joined to the support1 in the corresponding way and are not shown here. Pulling on a handle38, which is disposed on one of the load-bearing arms 2, not only causesan outward deflection of this load-bearing arm away from the verticalsupport 1 but also (with transmission by the gear wheel segment 34 andthe toothed sleeve 36) a forced deflection of the load-bearing arm 2that is located opposite, in terms of the vertical support 1, theload-bearing arm 2 that has the handle 38.

[0029] In FIG. 6, a detail of a further laundry drying rack is shown,with a vertical support 1 that has load-bearing arms 2 that are eachjoined pivotably to the support 1 about a respective pivot pin 6. Thepivot pins 6 are disposed on a sleeve 8 that is displaceable relative tothe support 1. A connecting rod sleeve 22 is also provided, which islikewise displaceable relative to the support 1 and is connected to eachof the load-bearing arms 2 by a respective connecting rod 24. Eachconnecting rod 24 is mounted movably on the connecting rod sleeve 22,where it is pivotable about a pivot pin 26, and on the load-bearing arms2 where it is pivotable about a pivot pin 28. The load-bearing arms 2 ofthe laundry drying rack of FIG. 6 are likewise—analogously to thelaundry drying racks of FIGS. 1A and 1B through 5—moreover provided withspreader arms, not shown here, which are also secured in a correspondingway to the support 1.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0030]1 (Vertical) support

[0031]2 Load-bearing arm

[0032]4 Center axis

[0033]6 Pivot pin

[0034]8 Sleeve

[0035]10 Spreader arm

[0036]12 Retaining shaft

[0037]14 Articulation shaft

[0038]16 Tilt lever

[0039]18 Tilt pin

[0040]20 Tilt lever holder

[0041]22 Connecting rod sleeve

[0042]24 Connecting rod

[0043]26 Pivot pin

[0044]28 Pivot pin

[0045]30 Sleeve

[0046]32 Pivot pin

[0047]34 Gear wheel segment

[0048]36 Toothed sleeve

[0049]38 Handle

1. An umbrella-type laundry drying rack having a vertical support (1)and having load-bearing arms (2) for clothes lines, the load-bearingarms being disposed pivotably on the support (1) each about a respectivepivot pin (6), and the load-bearing arms (2) are pivotable between afirst position close to the support and a second position remote fromthe support and are coupled to one another such that upon pivoting ofone of the load-bearing arms (2), the further load-bearing arms (2) arejointly pivoted in the same way, characterized in that at least oneload-bearing arm has a means for its forced deflection out of the firstposition outward, upon exertion of a force oriented away from thesupport (1) to one of the other load-bearing arms (2).
 2. The laundrydrying rack of claim 1, characterized in that the load-bearing arm (2)having the means for its forced deflection is disposed, relative to thesupport (1), opposite a load-bearing arm (2) provided for exerting theforce oriented away from the support (1).
 3. The laundry drying rack ofone of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the load-bearing arms(2) are each braced on the support (1) with a respective spreader arm(10) that is pivotable on the one hand about a retaining shaft (12)disposed on the support (1) and on the other about an articulation shaft(14) disposed on the load-bearing arm (2).
 4. The laundry drying rack ofclaim 3, characterized in that the retaining shafts (12) of the spreaderarms (10) are disposed fixedly on the support (1).
 5. The laundry dryingrack of one of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the pivotpins (6) of the load-bearing arms (2) are disposed on a sleeve (8) thatis displaceable relative to the support (1).
 6. The laundry drying rackof one of the foregoing claims, characterized in that four load-bearingarms (2) are provided.
 7. The laundry drying rack of one of theforegoing claims, characterized in that one load-bearing arm (2) has ahandle (38), and this load-bearing arm (2) is intended for exerting theforce oriented away from the support (1).
 8. The laundry drying rack ofone of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the means for forceddeflection of the load-bearing arm (2) has a tilt lever (16) that on theone hand can be pivoted about a tilt pin (18) on the load-bearing arm(2) and on the other can be braced on the support (1).
 9. The laundrydrying rack of claim 8, characterized in that the tilt lever (16)carries the articulation shaft (14) of the corresponding spreader arm(10), and the articulation shaft (14) of the spreader arm (10) isdisposed between the tilt pin (18) of the tilt lever (16) and an end ofthe tilt lever (16) that can be braced on the support (1).
 10. Thelaundry drying rack of one of claims 1-7, characterized in that themeans for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm (2) has a toothedsleeve (36), which is displaceable relative to the support (1), and agear wheel or gear wheel segment that engages the toothed sleeve (36)and is disposed on the load-bearing arm (2).
 11. The laundry drying rackof claim 10, characterized in that the toothed sleeve (36) is disposeddisplaceably in the sleeve (30), on which the pivot pins (32) of theload-bearing arms are disposed and which is displaceable relative to thesupport (1).
 12. The laundry drying rack of claim 10 or 11,characterized in that the toothed sleeve (36) is drivable by a gearwheel or gear wheel segment (34) disposed on a load-bearing arm (2)intended for exerting the force oriented away from the support (1). 13.The laundry drying rack of one of claims 1-7, characterized in that themeans for forced deflection of the load-bearing arm (2) has a connectingrod disposed on the one hand pivotably on a connecting rod sleeve (22)that is displaceable relative to the support (1) and on the otherpivotably on the load-bearing arm (2).
 14. The laundry drying rack ofclaim 13, characterized in that the connecting rod sleeve (22) isdrivable by a connecting rod (24) that is connected to a load-bearingarm (2) intended for exerting the force oriented away from the support(1).